The present invention recognizes that powerful advertising can be had by disseminating objects representative of an advertising company or product to the public, normally for free. For instance, the well-known orange “76” ball has been provided for years for placement on car antennae to effectively advertise a particular oil company at minimal cost to the advertiser. It is not necessary that such advertising objects explicitly display the name of a product or company, but only that the objects please the consumer in some way, who is then reminded of the advertiser from time to time.
In considering this advertising phenomenon, the present invention further recognizes that an ever-increasing amount of commerce is undertaken electronically over the World Wide Web. Most if not all Web advertising consists of advertising banners and pages that can be clicked on to transport a user to another Web site associated with the advertiser. Currently, the only way to combine the provision of objects, advertising or otherwise, to the public using Web-based commerce is to mail an object to a Web user in response to the user ordering the object via the Web. In the case of conventional sales of goods for money, this is expected and currently is acceptable. In the case of freely-provided advertising objects, however, the present invention recognizes that the provision of the objects preferably happens in real-time, as the user is actually using the Web, to promote the interest of the user in the object before the novelty of viewing the Web page wears off. Also, the present invention recognizes that because advertising objects are normally provided for free or at some de minimis cost, the cost of producing and distributing the objects preferably remains small. With the above considerations in mind, the present invention has provided the solutions set forth herein.